Danny Nguyen comments

I just listened to "Sakura" and I loved it. Now this news give me an incentive to know a lot more about his works.

Abe fell victim to a complete whacko with a homemade gun. Will this be enough to make Japan start taking mental health seriously?

I'm sorry, but that is way too easy of an excuse to throw. Some people in the United States have been trying to pin the Highland Park shooting on mental health issues when the action was totally premeditated on top of the fact that he has a violent history with political ideology. It is nothing but pure terrorism. Besides, anything that demonstrates premeditation behind a first-degree murder in court will crush any claim of mental health issues, which would imply that the person doesn't have the capacity to commit premeditated murder.

In Yamagami's case here, he has deliberately chosen to forget that he and his mother have rights they can defend in the face of a wrongdoing. Using legal means to defend your rights is a tenet of any civilized society. Taking action on some unfounded belief or following a conspiracy theory is not.

@tamanegi

If politics in Japan were not a matter of mafia-like families and boot-licking in a very corrupt system, there would be far more common folks running for office and winning enough seats to start rocking society as it is long overdue.

Until the day when enough of those political families and other geriatric paycheck collectors get kicked out of office, the Japanese Diet will look nothing more than a disguised version of the Roman Senate during the centuries of rule under the Caesars.

I'm personally glad that Murakami called it as it is. People and now governors have been crying for one period to go hard and crush the curve into near irrelevance for the time enough people get vaccinated, but the LDP have been doing a lousy job from the very beginning by not listening to scientists and medical experts. In any case, Suga is like the mad king in his twilight before someone at the court chooses to go with full betrayal.

@Pukey2

Anyone who chooses as a group to behave like destructive bigots deserve to be called as they are: barbarians and vandals. And as far as everyone concerned, Rangers fans have earned their bad reputation themselves.

@ ClippetyClop

Either you don't have any clue about what the Old Firm is or you're a Rangers fan. Let me be clear about this. Rangers supporters have been notoriously known for standing up alongside backwards socio-political stances over the decades: discrimination against the Catholic minority, supporting Thatcher-like politics, making Nazi salutes in Israel, making monkey gestures against black players, and so on. Their history is filled with such crap, so you better not lecture me as to why I should or should not despise such football club.

One more instance where Rangers show themselves as one of the most despicable football clubs in the world. While Celtic were already pushing for becoming more inclusive over the decades, Rangers remained and still are a prime example of bigotry.

And by the way, I hope Celtic will stuff them on Sunday.

Taliban is funded by ISI in Pakistan, and China is extremely allied with Pakistan. Talibans may be radical in Islam but they are welcoming economic development in the country.

The ISI is the same organization that protected Osama Bin Laden when Pakistan was supposedly an ally in the War on Terror and was receiving a huge chunk of money from the US at the time. The more it goes on, you can see that the ISI doesn't care about what the Pakistani government thinks or wants on paper; it's about the best definition of a deep state within a state as you may find. The ISI, alongside the Saudis, are probably the biggest supporters of Islamic militant groups in the world. They even supported Bosnian Muslims during the Bosnian War. Don't think for a second that the ISI would hesitate before they turn their cannons against China while they will deny everything as usual. They have done it before and they will do it again because their only loyalty is to themselves and beyond any government.

As for China, I will see how events unfold in the next few years. The CCP made their bed with the Taliban for now, but the same thing that happened to the US can also happen to China as well when the ISI holds the cards. And it has already begun with that suicide bombing against Chinese citizens in Pakistan not that far back. If things go down the nasty route, then we will see how far China will be willing to go.

Great moment for Canada! Christine Sinclair can now finally retire peacefully after 21 years with the National Team if she chooses to. The kids are now ready to carry the torch ahead. I'm so happy that Sinclair finally can taste Olympic gold after the disappointment of losing after an epic performance at Old Trafford in 2012.

I guess Mr. Failure didn't take a good look at the team/countries that defeated the USWNT in the last few days. They are not exactly beacons of his vision of old school nationalism in particular, and it's more than perfect that way.

Now get thrown in the iron box under the burning sun to learn some humility and especially silence, Failure.

Takehiro Tomiyasu's absence due to a cumulation of yellow cards really hurt Japan in the end since his replacement is the one who allowed space for Asensio to score, but I think the result came down (again) to the lack of end product in scoring positions from the Japanese forwards. Spain also had trouble scoring goals outside of the quarterfinal against the Ivory Coast, so the narrative would have been different if Japan had their scoring boots like in the match against France.

Anyway, I hope they will find a way to win bronze and make sure this is their best result in the discipline thus far.

The IOC should've come down on Saunders. The IOC should ban Mao badges and those athletes. The IOC should show some backbone, consistency and back up the things they say they're going to do.

This is the whole point. Either the IOC punishes them all or do nothing at all, no double standards either way. Considering that BLM-related matters have been banned from podium protocols a few months prior to the Olympics, it's the appearance of double standards that irks people more than anything.

If the IOC chooses to let this one go, then Pandora's Box will be left wide open for the next winter Olympics in a few months' time. Don't be surprised if athletes come up with more than an X gesture to show support to Hong Kong, to Uyghurs and to other silenced voices whom the CCP despises. They may even go even further as to give the 2 fingers up with an inverted palm to China.

When people never had any bloody clue about what a true lockdown feels like, they better stop whining and suck it up instead for once. If the majority within the Diet as a whole votes FOR the lockdown, what will you do? Leave the country? Do it, but most countries out there will hardly have tolerance towards irresponsible immigrants. As far as I'm concerned, I swear that Japan should have done it at least once under the previous prime minister.

Limit your outings 1) for buying food and utilities, 2) to go to work if you're an essential worker, and 3) if you want to get tested or get vaccinated during the day. That is how you crush the COVID curve. My home Canadian province of Quebec had to go into a few lockdowns as the situation demanded since the first wave, but the last one in the spring worked perfectly in preventing the third wave as the vaccine rollout started picking up the pace at that time.

The moral of the story is that freedom is empty if you have no sense of responsibility towards society. What is freedom if you stay unvaccinated and do stuff that leads to infecting your father, your mother, or even your best friends? That's not freedom. That's being irresponsible and selfish. In fact, many people here need to look at themselves in the mirror.

Beijing 2022 to the gutter!

Why not? If they have come to grow a lot more mature and readier for more than they were back in the days, I'm all for it.

In Tokyo alone, 60% vacancy would be 6,000 shots/day — enough to vaccinate Tokyo’s 40,000 police officers, its 18,000 fire personnel, and the entire nation’s 14,000 Coast Guard personnel between now and June 27. 

Geez...

I swear that I'm fed up with vaccine skeptics regardless of wherever they come from. If the elderly don't want to get vaccinated, their loss. Frontline personel should have been vaccinated first and foremost a while ago. Also if anything, I'm glad that it will soon open up to younger adult age groups who don't want to make covid become a pre-existing condition if they catch it.

Tell me that some of the opposition party leaders are preparing a strong message about fighting corruption in the upcoming elections. Even though some people will say it's part of Japanese society, then I will say that the last couple of years should be fueling a popular/populist desire to wage some form of war against corruption more than ever before.

If there is one thing I wish Canada could adopt from Japan, it's the Nagayama Standard as the sentencing guideline for capital punishment. I just like the way everything is solidly detailed and explained as a scale to mesure who should live and who should die as dictated by the law after commiting a crime.

There are cases out there where you know you don't see possible redemption in a perpetrator. Death penalty should be a last resort. But those who commit multiple premeditated murders, like that vile creature of a 20-year-old did, are among those cases of last resort.

@Johnnie Walker

I agree. Some people fit the profile of subscribers to the Daily Mail, The Sun or any other hate-filled outlet from the Murdoch media empire. They can always comment on those places among other garbage dwellers if they want. I hate it that JT allows this mess to be spilled here.

This whole saga reminds me how much sports media can be by far the worst in the entire profession, especially those in Continental Europe. The worst part is that it's pretty much well documented on how much of a negative impact they have had former top champions in women's tennis like Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis.

I swear there are a number of sports journos out there who deserve to be banned for years before athletes get the axe. There is absolutely no need to be nice to journalists who willfully behave like stupid people, especially those who are willing to ask silly questions or trying to fit a specific narrative. They should not even be allowed at press conferences. And besides, they are becoming totally irrelevant and obsolete in the age of social media.

Personally, I couldn't care less about what athletes say about their performances because I don't need that to appreciate them. I want them to perform at the top of their capabilities, even if that means getting rid of all needless distractions whatever those are.

I saw this in a different thread. Thought it would be in everyone's interests to share the following.

In the UK, Over 70% of people over 18 have at least the first vaccine dose and about 40% have both. In England, 46% of the people have had both doses.

London is less vaccinated. 50% of adults with at least the first dose/29% of adults with both doses.

Ref: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55274833

If the chunk of the new cases are based in London, then it would explain a lot. Still, it remains disappointing that London are so far behind the vaccine rollout curve compared to the rest of Britain and that it could be the reason we see such numbers.

It's disappointing to read that Londoners are way behind the curve compared to the rest of England/UK. You'd believe that such a big city would be the top target for better vaccine rollout as it is about everywhere else in the world.

87% of Brits trust the Covid vaccinations. In Japan, only 47% trust vaccines. About the same in S. Korea.

I've also read that it's around 19% or so in the Philippines. What the heck is going on in Asia as a whole?

@Attilathehungry

A section of my previous comment was perhaps poorly formulated. What I meant is that Washington needed a general like that 26-year-old French equivalent from 225 years ago to crush the anti-democratic rebels on January 6. Optics wouldn't have mattered one bit if such general and his army corps were going regardless in to stop the riots because that is what their oath commanded.

It wasn’t an insurrection

Do you think the then-young French Republic thought the same when news of 30,000 royalist rioters were marching on Paris on 5 October 1795? The Convention (parliament) sent everything they had albeit heavily outnumbered by 1 to 5, but the genius of a 26-year-old French general crushed the riot to sign the final chapter of the French Revolution.

I swear that many January 6 rioters should never have been treated any kinder than their French counterparts from 225+ years ago. What was missing in Washington was a general not caring one bit about appearances for as long as American democracy was under threat by those anti-democratic rebels.

Wait, Did you know that Denmark has banned the J&J vaccine for safety reasons?

Do you know what I think of Denmark here? Kneejerks. Since J&J has been put put in the mix, the number of registered cases with negative side effects are a drop in the ocean compared to the number cases with no negative side effects. Same thing with Astrazeneca.

And as far as Denmark is concerned, AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines have been offered to people who are volunteering for them since May 20. In my home province in Canada, Astrazeneca vaccines are pretty popular despite the fearmongering about blood clots. Anti-vaxxers need to shut their mouths for good measure this time after the amount of damage they have made for over 20 years.

That being said, I'm waiting to see the effects of opening the vaccine rollout to people under 65 in Japan. It's already doing wonders in Western countries that have been doing the same for weeks, and we're moving ever closer to full normality as a result.

Sir Alex Ferguson once said to a journalist in a press conference "You don't deserve to be here, to come at a press conference. Why should I bother with you [with] the way you behave?"

What is my point? I'm just pointing out the fact that many media people sent to those press conferences are absolute muppets, and the worst thing about them is that they still keep their jobs while playing careers can be destroyed without impunity in the process.

Having seen the same media circus nearly destroying Martina Hingis at a young age, I have the lowest level of sympathy towards sports journalists covering women's tennis. Many of those pereneially frustrated people need to keep their mouths firmly shut.

I mean... how can such a mess happen in the first place when weather surveillance should be able to call the race on or off based on the data they get? Furthermore, where are the EMTs who are supposed to shadow the participants at decent intervals on the path? It's such a shame that 21 lives were lost because safety measures were not applied.

Gross negligence of the highest order on all fronts. We were lucky this time, but you have to make sure that the driver and the conductor are fully qualified and capable of doing the job on each train like qualified pilots and co-pilots on jetliners.

Ghosn is so screwed.

From the moment that more countries started taking a closer look at his situation, it was always going to be a loosing battle.

If contact tracing following a spike of infections leads directly to that restaurant, I know who will get the blame first and foremost.

Bars having to close at 8pm during an emergency is a small price to pay for not having a Kenpeitai equivalent sitting there ready to shut down all forms of dissent.

This. As much as the government shares a big chunk of the blame for various failures in dealing with this pandemic, it's also because of idiots like that owner that the problems will carry on and may well become bigger down the road.

In the province I live in, a gym owner defied public health's orders. The result of that defiance was a spike of new cases in the entire region, all tracable to that gym. The mayor of the city was not shy in ripping that gym owner a new one with some strong sarcasm in a press conference.